A Nevispages weekly feature by Curtis Morton Sr.
The way I see it, FEAR virtually drives the world and is the stimulus for a lot of our actions and decisions.
I asked my good friend GOOGLE, for a proper definition for FEAR and the response was:
‘Fear is the most general term and implies anxiety and usually loss of courage. Fear of the unknown dread usually adds the idea of intense reluctance to face or meet a person or situation and suggests aversion as well as anxiety.’
Additionally: ‘Fear is an emotion induced by perceived danger or threat, which causes physiological changes and ultimately behavioral changes, such as fleeing, hiding, or freezing from perceived traumatic events. Fear in human beings may occur in response to a certain stimulus occurring in the present, or in anticipation or expectation of a future threat perceived as a risk to oneself.
The fear response arises from the perception of danger leading to a confrontation with or escape from/avoiding the threat (also known as the fight-or-flight response), which in extreme cases of fear (horror and terror) can be a freeze response or paralysis.
In humans and other animals, fear is modulated by the process of cognition and learning. Thus fear is judged as rational or appropriate and irrational or inappropriate. An irrational fear is called a phobia.’
So you are now wondering where I am now heading-right dear reader?
Well, since I learnt to swim, I do not think that there is anybody, anywhere in the world, who loves the sea water more than I do –well, maybe Norton—but nobody else!
However, I have had my share of FEAR.
When I had just learnt to swim, I became accustomed to swimming way out at Pinney’s beach, with Joya Clarke and the late Berlin Clarke, who were both expert swimmers. We went so far on occasions that we could see the big clock on the Public Library in town.
Well I newa!
Many years after that, my good friend, Brian Warner, went missing, while enjoying the beach with his family and later the upper part of his body, was extracted form a dead shark, found floating on the water.
FEAR caused me to stop going to the beach for a while. I may not have gone back as yet, but I had a conversation with my good cousin, Lemuel Pemberton, who is not only an expert swimmer but also a man who I estimate, knows matters pertaining to the marine environment, like the back of his hand.
So, I was telling LEMME of my fear of the water, at that time and he ‘consoled’ me by telling me that the I do not know how many times, I had gone so far out to sea and not know how many sharks I would have swum over in the process. Well, I tell you, that was a sobering thought. His mindset is that, if you are not troubling the sharks, they will not trouble you. EH?
Well, I do not want to find out!
So, I overcame the FEAR and I went back to the sea and I soon forgot about sharks. I no longer go far out, mind you…
Well, in recent times, we have heard about the extraordinary sighting of a fair number of sharks, in our waters. So many, that people now using fowls to catch them! Well, FEAR took over again and I have refused to go to the beach for the last several weeks.
Well, last Sunday, I decided to go along with my swimming group and I really had mixed feelings.
Why?
The group on that day, consisted of two young boys, three ladies and myself. So, as the guy from over Bath would say, I knew that on that day-‘ah me ah di man.’ A lot depended on me going into the water first. After some dillying and dallying, I finally went into the water and I tried to put on a brave front, but my heart was beating overtime.
I dived into the water and trust me, I was PEEPING all over. If I had seen even a small fish move, I would have been catapulting out of that water so fast! Well, I stayed in long enough for them to feel comfortable and they finally came in.
However, I could not help noticing that they were PEEPING too! I long for the day, when I can feel comfortable in the water again. I guess it will happen in time.
However, the assuring voice of God, through his word the bible, is comforting:
Psalms 115:11
Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
Psalms 34:9
O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
Psalms 27:1
(A Psalm of David.) The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalms 118:6
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
The FEAR of the Lord, by interpretation, is not the livid fear that I have of sharks, it refers to more RESPECT and OBEDIENCE.
So, I am not so bright, but I have figured that the more I trust God, the more I will overcome my fear of Man and SHARKS.
So dear reader, we need to trust God more.
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?